Support for public rink gathering in Boca

Once word got out that Boca Raton is considering building an ice rink, the e-mails and signatures on petitions came pouring in by the hundreds.

Joan DeLuca collected about 100 signatures in about one hour, she said.

"I think we can get any number of signatures required," said DeLuca, whose daughter is a figure skater.

It's part of the support that city officials said they wanted to see as they consider putting a new ice rink on city-owned land. Weston officials decided not to build a rink after public outcry. In the end, however, it will come down to finding someone willing to work with the city and pay for the project, city officials said.

"We have the land," said Mickey Gomez, the city's parks and recreation director. "If the City Council determines there's a need to do it, then the only way to do it is with a private-public partnership."

He said the city has received more signatures and e-mails on the ice rink project than on just about any other project he can recall. Around 200 people have signed petitions, and 150 have e-mailed Gomez and City Council members, he said.

Peter Pearlman, president of the Florida Scholastic Hockey League, recently spoke to the Boca Raton Council about the need for a community rink that could accommodate high school teams.

Twenty-one teams in the league travel from Pembroke Pines to Lake Worth to practice once a week and play twice on weekends, Pearlman said. The Boca Raton area has four high school teams.

"To build a legitimate high school program, you need to have kids on ice more than one time a week," Pearlman said.

Gomez said he has talked to a couple of Boca Raton businessmen and the National Hockey League's Florida Panthers about the possibility of working with the city to build a rink.

"We believe that the demand is overwhelming," said Michael Yormark, chief operating officer of Sunrise Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Panthers and operates BankAtlantic Center.

Over the past 12 months, the Panthers have been in talks with Boca Raton officials, he said.

Yormark declined to say whether the Panthers would be willing to pay for a rink on city-owned land. The Panthers want to make the proposed rink a reality, and there are multiple options, he said.

"We're in this business," he said. "We know how to operate [a rink] successfully."